Eight more entertainment shows on the way
There's plenty of exciting new shows to look forward to
Netflix
- Gareth McLean
1. Celebrity Bear Hunt
5 February, Netflix
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The cast of Celebrity Bear Hunt. Netflix
In a future version of a competitive endurance show, a bunch of celebrities will be dropped in a jungle and that’ll be it. No perky presenter detailing contestants’ progress, no safe word to excuse them from whatever snake-based trauma they’re enduring, no heroic survival expert coaching them to drink their own urine. Just a results show six months later when the rainforest relinquishes their bleached bones. As it is, Holly Willoughby acts concerned in khaki, while in the actual Central American jungle, Bear Grylls tests the survival instincts of, among others, Shirley Ballas, Boris Becker and Steph McGovern.
2. Britain's Got Talent
February, ITV1
The judges and hosts of Britain's Got Talent. ITV
When does a warhorse become a dinosaur? Back for its 18th series, BGT is still attracting almost six million viewers, but that’s half the audience who tuned in for the third series (the one Susan Boyle didn’t win). And as Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon, Bruno Tonioli and Simon Cowell return, it feels very old-fashioned. This creakiness is only accentuated by the new guest judge, YouTube sensation KSI, who’s been signed to lend some street cred to ITV’s declining behemoth. But there’s only so much credibility to be loaned to a show that could be won by a yodelling magician, choir of street-dancing ventriloquists or acrobatic stand-up comic.
3. Celebrity Big Brother
Spring ITV1
The Celebrity Big Brother 2024 housemates. ITV
It has now been axed twice — once by Channel 4 and once by Five — but the daddy of all reality TV programmes won’t stay dead. Just when you think you’re safe from having your life stolen away from you, up it pops like a horror-film serial killer or Elton John on a farewell tour. The show’s death-defying durability — this is its second celebrity run on ITV — is either indicative that there’s life in the old dog yet or emblematic of a lack of imagination among ITV executives. Let’s choose to attribute it to the evergreen potential of the Big Brother format and the alchemy that is key to that potential: the casting.
4. Last One Laughing
Later this year, Amazon Prime Video
Last One Laughing. Amazon Prime
Once again showing off its Croesus-deep pockets, Amazon enlists a stellar selection of Britain’s funniest folks in this remake of a Japanese show with one simple rule: laugh and you’re out. And so Bob Mortimer, Judi Love, Lou Sanders, Harriet Kemsley, Rob Beckett, Daisy May Cooper, Sara Pascoe, Richard Ayoade, Joe Lycett, Joe Wilkinson and guest Roisin Conaty try spending a day together without so much as a smirk. Whether host Jimmy Carr might help with that, who can say?
5. Destination X
Later this year, BBC1
Destination X. BBC
Talented though he is, the prospect of Rob Brydon being Destination X’s puppetmaster who, according to the publicity material, “orchestrates every twist and turn” of this high-concept “adventure reality competition series” seems a little far-fetched. After all, Brydon doesn’t so much scream “scheming genius” as intone “supermarket area manager”. Now, Julia Davis, his Human Remains co-star? Could totally buy her as a manipulative puppetmaster. Ditto Gavin & Stacey’s Mathew Horne. Still, we are where we are. Or are we?
6. The Apprentice
Coming soon, BBC1
The Apprentice.
Given its awesome power — the US version bears a hefty responsibility for the rise of Donald Trump — you’d think they’d find a lead-lined box in which to keep the format of The Apprentice. Ideally stashed away in the bowels of the British Museum. Instead, it returns – fully charged, safety catch off – with a whole new slew of people whose ambition to prostrate themselves before “Siralan” overrides their self-respect. Karren Brady, lately of the House of Lords, and Tim Campbell, winner of the first series 20 years ago, return as Lord Sugar’s henchpeople.
7. Taskmaster
Later this year, C4
Taskmaster's Greg Davies and Alex Horne. Rob Parfitt / Channel 4
What began as a show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2010 became the little show that could on Dave — but only after years of perseverance and patience on the part of its creator, Alex Horne, and an ill-fated pilot episode. Five successful years later, Channel 4 whisked Taskmaster off to terrestrial telly and have commissioned, to date, 12 more series, not to mention a junior spin-off. And it’s become a global hit as well, with a dozen international versions. (In Finland, for example, it’s called Suurmestari.) The moral of the story? Build it and they will come.
8. A League of Their Own: the Rally
Later this year, Sky Max/Now
A League of Their Own: the Rally SKY
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With a whiff of Race across the World and a deferential nod to The Italian Job, The Rally sees Jamie Redknapp, Jill Scott and Micah Richards joined by stand-up Maisie Adam and Murder in Successville’s Tom Davis in a (wacky) race from London to Turin. The teams compete in vertiginous and ridiculous challenges, delivering some top-notch banter against some right lovely scenery.
Authors
Gareth McLean
Gareth McLean has been writing about television for nearly 30 years. As a critic, he's reviewed thousands of programmes. As a feature writer, he's interviewed hundreds of people, from Liza Minnelli to Jimmy Savile. He has also written for TV.
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